London, July 24- Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency project founded by OpenAI (Better known by it ChatGPT) CEO Sam Altman, launched on Monday, July 24.
The project aims to create a global digital identity system that uses iris scanning to verify the identities of users. Worldcoin users will be able to earn Worldcoin tokens by having their irises scanned. These tokens can then be used to make payments, send remittances, or even vote in elections.
Worldcoin’s founders believe that the project has the potential to disrupt the way we think about digital identity and payments.
The project uses a device called the Orb, which is a handheld scanner that takes a picture of a user’s iris. The Orb then converts the image into a unique code that is used to verify the user’s identity.
Worldcoin has already raised over $25 million in funding, and it is currently in the process of rolling out its iris-scanning technology in a number of countries.
The company has said that it plans to eventually make Worldcoin available to people in every country in the world.
However, Worldcoin has also been met with some serious criticism, particularly regarding the iris scanning process.
Some others have questioned the feasibility of the project.
The company is giving away free coins to anyone who would scan their eyes on a device called Orb that converts the image of their eyes into a “short numeric code” for authentication in exchange for coins.
Privacy advocate Edward Snowden, took to Twitter to voice his concerns. He tweeted: “This looks like it produces a global (hash) database of people’s iris scans (for “fairness”), and waves away the implications by saying we deleted the scans!” 1
The co-founder of Ethereum has also expressed concerns, arguing that the project could pose a “serious privacy risk.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation: The digital rights group has also criticized Worldcoin, arguing that the project is “a threat to privacy” and that it could be used to create a “global surveillance network.”
It remains to be seen whether Worldcoin will be able to overcome these challenges and succeed.
- Cryptotimes: https://www.cryptotimes.io/privacy-advocate-edward-snowden-slams-sam-altmans-worldcoin/[↩]
